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Why SNL's Larry David "Totino's" Sketch Took the Super Bowl Ad to a "Creepy Level"
Writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider revealed that the first sketch in Vanessa Bayer's trilogy earned them a "full fridge" of pizza rolls.
In the weeks leading up to February 16's three-hour 50th anniversary celebration on NBC, the team behind Saturday Night Live has selected one sketch from every single season — 50 seasons in 50 days — to reflect the show's rich legacy across five decades. Presenting the sketch chosen to represent Season 41: "Totino's," starring Host Larry David along with Season 41 cast members Vanessa Bayer, Kyle Mooney, Jon Rudnitsky, Jay Pharoah, Pete Davidson, and Beck Bennett.
Episode 2 of Peacock's Beyond Saturday Night docuseries follows a week in the SNL writers' room, revealing how sketches evolve from a pitched idea into a piece that debuts live. And while the inspiration for an SNL sketch can come from just about anywhere — such as writer Julio Torres's disappointment over the Avatar logo's unimaginative Papyrus font, for example — the seed that first sprouted SNL's trilogy of pretaped "Totino's" sketches is hyper-specific.
According to "Totino's" sketch writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, it was all about Vanessa Bayer's obsession with the actual Totino's ads, and the way she'd make a meal of uttering the now-iconic phrase, "My hungry guys!"
The first "Totino's" sketch, advertising an activity pack that wives can occupy themselves with during the big game, aired on January 14, 2015, starring Host J.K. Simmons. The February 6, 2016 sequel with Season 41 Host Larry David (himself an SNL writer from 1984-1985) veered into more surreal territory: The football fans' eyes go black as they endlessly shout "Go, go, go, go, go TOUCHDOWN!" — and Bayer discovers they've actually been watching a black TV screen the entire time.
"What's...happening...to my hungry guys?!?" a horrified Bayer screams. That's when we learn this was actually a commercial for another show entirely.
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SNL's "Totino's" Super Bowl parody was inspired by Vanessa Bayer's obsession with the real commercials
Vanessa Bayer, an SNL cast member from 2010-2017, co-wrote the "Totino's" sketches with Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, whose other viral SNL sketches include "(Do It on My) Twin Bed" with Host Jimmy Fallon and "Back Home Ballers" with Host Cameron Diaz.
Bayer first revealed her inspiration in a 2018 episode of Vulture's Good One: A Podcast About Jokes. "I wanted to do something about how women are portrayed in a way, during those Super Bowl commercials, like they're doing nothing," while the men watch their sports, she explained.
"Vanessa is so specific. She was like, 'In those commercials, there’s always someone being like, My hungry guys!' That was the piece," Schneider said during her and Kelly's own visit to the Good One podcast in 2019.
"Sometimes a cast member will say, 'Oh, I have this idea where I say 'Mmmm,' and you’re like, “Cooool … I … don’t know what to do with that.” But sometimes it will just hit you perfectly," Kelly added. "Vanessa doing this woman, it just made our brains go to places."
The two told the podcast that Bayer's comedic sweet spot is "smiling through pain."
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"Vanessa is so specific. She was like, 'In those commercials, there’s always someone being like, ‘My hungry guys!’' That was the piece," Schneider shared during a February 2019 Good One episode alongside her writing partner Kelly.
With the Super Bowl coming back around ahead of Larry David's episode, the success of the first sketch inspired a sequel. "We loved that first one, and we don’t get to do stuff with Vanessa much, so we were like, Could we continue to play in this world?" Schneider told Vulture, adding that they'd "want it to have a different tone."
Hence the complete zag into absurdity. The writers took the concept of men chanting "Go, go, go, go, oh!" at the TV and, as Schneider described it, "blew it out to a really creepy level" — a literal X-Files commercial.
Kelly and Schneider also shared that the original "Totino's" sketch earned them a gift from the real company. "They sent us a full fridge of Totino’s," Schneider said. "It was a takedown of Super Bowl commercials, but it’s not the best for Totino’s, so I was surprised!"
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Kristin Stewart's installment earned the Totino's girl a "sweet" ending
The final "Totino's" installment arrived on February 4, 2017, co-starring Host Kristen Stewart as Sabine, a football fan's sister. In the sketch, Sabine and the Totino's wife — as she tells Sabine, when it comes to names, "I've never had one" — enjoy the type of stunningly-lit romance you usually see in French films.
"I should bring these out," Bayer's character murmurs, as the two stand over a tray of pizza rolls.
"No, stay with me," Sabine whispers.
"But...what about my hungry guys?" she says.
Looking back on the sketches, Schneider told Vulture they were "sweet."
"We like the happy ending that our character has," she said of the character's story arc. By the end of the third installment, "It's just a woman finding happiness."
